How to Find New Business with the Google Analytics Keyword Report

Gathering social media metrics for your business helps pinpoint ways to attract customers — and the Google Analytics Keyword Report is a great place to start. It will help you with your content also, among other things, because it’s a multipurpose tool. First, expand the Keyword report to include the most you can view at one time — currently 500 keywords.

As you take a good hard look at all the various ways real people interact with your site and your brand, you can see the treasure trove of leads and new customers that are out there waiting for you to find them, anticipate their needs, and make sure they can easily interact with your brand. The metrics behind the Google Analytics Keyword Report are as much about quality and innovation as they are about quantity. A lot of data doesn’t mean much if you aren’t using it to its full potential.

How customers find you online

One thing your Keyword Report can tell you is how hard people are working to find information that is leading them to you. Take a look at the keywords that list you as showing up on page 2 or 3 of the results for that word or phrase.

To get a page 2 or 3 click means that person was really working hard to find an answer or solution. If the keyword relates to a problem your brand can solve, use your content and social graph to work harder to be on page 1 of the results, thereby reaching more customers. Don’t forget to create this goal in your Analytics so that you can track your success over time.

Combine the Keyword Report analysis with new calls-to-action. If you have the resources — either via plug-in for WordPress or web designer at your disposal (even if that’s you) — do some A/B testing here. Put up a subscription form on the page being optimized with the keyword you want to become a page 1 result for.

Design two buttons. Put them in different places on each version of the test. Track them over time in analytics as part of your goal and get real feedback on which one will work better with your new visitors.

Meeting your customers’ content needs

Another way the Google Analytics Keyword Report can help you, aside from SEO, is to tell you how to change your content to reflect how your potential customers think. For example, if people search for a keyphrase or keyword about your brand’s services that isn’t referenced in your page, you may be missing out. Those people are going to put the same keyphrase or keyword into your on-site search box to locate more information, so be prepared.

Did you know that your Keyword Report has a bounce rate just like your website does? They do. High bounce rates on pages optimized for particular keywords is a cry for help. Definitely do A/B content testing on those pages to find out why people search for, and find, the content they need for their keyword search at your brand page, but the page doesn’t hold them there.

If you can find out how to anticipate your customers’ needs before they can articulate them on their own, your sales will go up through positive word-of-mouth from customers who feel well taken care of or who simply got an answer quickly and easily from you and your brand.

Also pay attention to your Top Content Report. These are the highest performing pages on your site. Each of these pages should have calls-to-action that turn visitors into leads and sales. Each call-to-action should become part of a related goal that you track in Analytics so that you can optimize the lead generation and conversion over time.

Tracking other important data

Track your Thank You pages as well. You do have these, right? It’s not enough these days just to have a form submitted or have an e-mail sent through your website and then simply return folks to the page they were on or your home page. Now people expect the validation of the confirmation page telling them they did the task correctly and their work wasn’t in vain.

Make your Thank You page trackable and actionable with good content and a human touch. Set it up as a goal as well. You want to see where people go next on your site, or if they choose to leave in spite of your fun message.

Speaking of other unexpected pages to use for better lead generation and conversion, what have you done with your 404 Page Not Found page lately? Is it funny or smart? Does it have calls-to-action on it to route people through your site if they land there on accident? Is it being used to convert? You can share a funny 404 page on sites like Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, and more to brighten someone’s day.

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